[22 February 2011 – Hong Kong] Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) today announces that the advertised baritone Konrad Jarnot has had to withdraw from “De Waart conducts Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony” performances to be held on 25 & 27 February (Fri & Sun) owing to sickness. German baritone Stephan Genz will replace Konard Jarnot and joins forces with soprano Malin Hartelius and Maestro Edo de Waart in Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony. The rest of the programme including Richard Strauss’s Serenade in E flat and Metamorphosen will remain unchanged.

“De Waart conducts Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony” will be held on 25 and 27 February 2011 (Fri & Sun), 8pm at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Chip Tsao, “First Wit of Hong Kong” will be the guest speaker of the free pre-concert talks for both nights (7:10pm – 7:40pm) to reveal the life and works of the Tagore, and this historic Hong Kong première. The pre-concert talk on 25 Feb will be conducted in Chinese and the 27 Feb talk will be conducted in English.

25 Feb Performance is a Hong Kong Arts Festival Programme

Stephan Genz, baritone
German baritone Stephan Genz was born in Erfurt in 1973 and received his first musical training as a chorister of St Thomas’s, Leipzig. Following vocal studies with Hans Joachim Beyer at the Conservatory of Leipzig, he worked with Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll at the Conservatory of Karlsruhe as well as with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Since then he has appeared at such leading opera houses as the Berlin Staatsoper, Hamburg Staatsoper, Paris (Bastille, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Châtelet) and Maggio Musicale Firenze. He has worked with conductors such as Myung-Whun Chung, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kuijken, Kurt Masur and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He has given recitals in London (Wigmore Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Frankfurt (Alte Oper), Paris (Châtelet, Champs-Élysées, Louvre) and the United States and Canada. Recent opera engagements include Papageno in new productions of The Magic Flute at the opera house of Cologne and the Grand Theatre de Geneve, Frank-Fritz in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice

Stephan Genz has published numerous CD recordings which have won him important prizes such as Timbre de Platine and Diapason d’or. For his recording of Beethoven Lieder he received the Gramophone Award and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. For Deutsche Grammophone he recorded Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos under Sinopoli. Stephan Genz was also awarded the Brahms Prize of Schleswig-Holstein.
De Waart conducts Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony
25&27| 2 | 2011
fri & sun 8pm
HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$380 $280 $180 $120
Available at URBTIX from now

Chip Tsao, guest speakerHailed as “First Wit in Hong Kong”, Chip Tsao showed an extraordinary talent on literature since early age. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and European Literature from the University of Warwick and a Diploma in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Tsao began his journalism career in the United Kingdom as a reporter for the BBC and RTHK. After returning to Hong Kong in the 1990’s, he began to write columns for various newspapers and magazines.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) is one of Asia’s leading orchestras. Enriching Hong Kong’s cultural life for over a century, the Orchestra has grown into a formidable ensemble of Chinese and international talents, attracting world-class artists to collaborate on its stage. HKPO annually touches the lives of over 200,000 music lovers through more than 150 performances including its extensive education activities for children and adults alike, and free concerts such as the popular Swire Symphony under the Stars, and regular broadcasts and telecasts. Outside of Hong Kong, HKPO has made a number of critically acclaimed tours in Asia and Europe. In the 2010/11 season, the Orchestra undertakes a China tour of Shanghai, Xi’an and Beijing under the leadership of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Maestro Edo de Waart. The first of which is an Expo 2010 programme.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is the Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre